IndyCar
Edmonton: Vision Racing race report
FOURTH PLACE FINISH AND LAPS LED FOR VISION RACING AT EDMONTON EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada (July 26, 2008) - Vision Racing driver Paul Tracy made a pass on the ailing car of Oriol Servia just a few feet before the checkered flag to take a fourth ...
Published: Jul 27, 2008, 4:09 PM
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FOURTH PLACE FINISH AND LAPS LED FOR VISION RACING AT EDMONTON
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada (July 26, 2008) - Vision Racing driver Paul Tracy made a pass on the ailing car of Oriol Servia just a few feet before the checkered flag to take a fourth place finish at the inaugural IndyCar Series REXALL Edmonton Indy on the 1.973-mile, 14-turn City Centre Airport temporary circuit in Edmonton, Canada.
Battling the odds, the Canadian fan favorite worked his way from a 15th place starting spot on the grid in the no.22 Subway / Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, to run with the leaders, and narrowly missed out on a podium finish in his first outing for the Vision team in a collaborative one-race effort with Walker Racing.
"It sure feels like a win," said the veteran driver of his return to IndyCar Series competition. "It's great and I'm really excited. To work our way forward and run with that lead group, the Penske, the Ganassi, and the Andretti Green cars, and show that this team, who put together a car in just two weeks, with a driver that hadn't driven since April, can run and finish like we did is outstanding. If we hadn't had to save so much fuel we could have had a shot at the podium. We just barely missed it. I had to let those guys go by because I was saving fuel."
"People said I had to come out and prove that I can still drive and we went from 15th on the grid to fourth," added Tracy. "Oriol (Servia) ran out of fuel right or had a problem at the end and we were able to get in front of him right at the line. I'm just super happy I was able to get through the whole race without running out of gas myself. It was hard race and I'm just really proud of the job these guys did for me in the pits, the way the sponsors treated us first class in Canada, and the great Canadian fans. I have to thank Derrick Walker, Tony George, Subway and Northlands for giving me this opportunity. It was just a great job by the whole Vision-Walker team. "
Driving the No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone machine in his first start on the Edmonton circuit, Vision teammate A.J. Foyt IV improved steadily all weekend and had a very strong race moving from his 17th place starting position, to lead a total three laps a third of the way through the event, for a 12th place finish.
"I had a real fun day," said Foyt who was all smiles after what he considered a strong outing. "No mishaps anywhere and I was just kind of out there running and running well behind some fast guys. It was good to be competitive out there on a road course. We got lucky and led a few laps in the Lilly car and that was kind of cool. Hopefully we can take the momentum of a good day and take it to the rest of the road courses this season and go to Kentucky and do well like we did last year."
Also in his first appearance at the Canadian event, Ed Carpenter and the No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone started from the 23rd position and posted his best finish of the season on a road/street course crossing the finish line in 13th place despite taking the start with an ill handling machine.
"It was a really rough day for the no.20 Menards car," said a disappointed Carpenter. "We actually finished a lot better than we started but it was a struggle to get there. The weekend started off really promising but we began struggling in qualifying, then warm up and finally by the race, we just went really backwards. We made some big changes after warm-up this morning to kind of take a shot at it and missed it pretty badly. The car was probably the worst it was all weekend at the start of the race and we were making ride height adjustments and all sorts of things throughout the race. We got a 13th place finish out of it but I wish we could have started the race with a little better car and maybe we would have been able to take advantage of some track positions earlier in the race. It was a learning experience and finishing 13th isn't at all bad considering how we started out."
All three Vision Racing entries finished on the lead lap of what ended up as a timed event with the race distance shorten to 91 laps.
Despite the respectable finish, Carpenter drops a position in the IndyCar Series championship point standings to 13th with 254 points. Foyt gained a spot in the standings this weekend and is now 19th with a total of 219 points.
The Rexall Edmonton Indy was won by Scott Dixon, his fifth victory of the season, solidifying his lead for the IndyCar Series championship (505 points), with a margin 5.9327 seconds over Helio Castroneves, who fell to 65 points behind in the standings with his sixth runner-up finish of the season. Justin Wilson rounded out the podium .
IndyCar Series racing resumes in two weeks at the Kentucky Speedway for the Meijer Indy 300. The event will air live and in HD on Saturday, August 9th at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, as well as IMS Radio Network, XM IndyCar Series Racing Channel 145, XM Sports Nation Channel 144 and on the web at www.IndyCar.com.
A.J. Foyt IV - No. 2 Lilly Diabetes/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone
"I had a real fun day. No mishaps anywhere and I was just kind of out there running and running well behind some fast guys. It was good to be competitive out there on a road course and got lucky and led a few laps in the Lilly car and that was kind of cool. Hopefully we can take the momentum of a good day and take it to the rest of the road courses this season and go to Kentucky and do well like we did last year."
Ed Carpenter - No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone
"It was a really rough day for the no.20 Menards car. We actually finished a lot better than we started but it was a struggle to get there. The weekend started off really promising but we began struggling in qualifying, then warm up and finally by the race, we just went really backwards. We made some big changes after warm-up this morning to kind of take a shot at it and missed it pretty badly. The car was probably the worst it was all weekend at the start of the race and we were making ride height adjustments and all sorts of things throughout the race. We got a 13th place finish out of it but I wish we could have started the race with a little better car and maybe we would have been able to take advantage of some track positions earlier in the race. It was a learning experience and finishing 13th isn't at all bad considering how we started out."
Paul Tracy - No. 22 Subway/ Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone
"It sure feels like a win. It's great and I'm really excited. To work our way forward and run with that lead group, the Penske, the Ganassi, and the Andretti Green cars, and show that this team, who put together a car in just two weeks, with a driver that hadn't driven since April, can run and finish like we did is outstanding. If we hadn't had to save so much fuel we could have had a shot at the podium. We just barely missed it. I had to let those guys go by because I was saving fuel. People said I had to come out and prove that I can still drive, and we went from 16th on the grid to fourth. Oriol (Servia) ran out of fuel right at the end and we were able to get in front of him right at the line. I'm just super happy I was able to get through the whole race without running out of gas myself. It was hard race and I'm just really proud of the job these guys did for me in the pits, the way the sponsors treated us first class in Canada, the great Canadian fans. I have to thank Derrick Walker, Tony George, Subway and Northlands for giving me this opportunity. It was just a great job by the whole Vision-Walker team. "
-credit: vr
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